Wakanda Is Problematic

I have been waiting a long time to say, Wakanda is problematic, and I rather live in Zumunda. Yes, I said it. And here’s why.

Three years ago, I, like everyone else in the black diaspora, ran to the theater to see the first Black Marvel super hero, Black Panther. Giving the Black Panthers cameo in Civil War, my expectations were low. My suspicions were simple: The Black Panther would be pacifying and by and large, anti-Black. Black Panther did not disappoint.

N’jobu, King T’Chaka’s brother stole vibrainium, a radioactive metallic substance used for everything from weaponry to medical use, from Wakanda. His goal was to fight against the world leaders. While his goal was noble, he worked with a notoriously ill intent character that had other plans for the vibrainium. N’jobu’s punishment: death by the hands of his brother. The reason: treason and impeding Wakanda’s security. Consequently, the King T’Chaka left his nephew, Erik Killmonger (the name is problematic in of itself), in California to fend for himself. Being abandoned by his uncle and death of his father made Killmonger bitter and vengeful. Killmonger killed Klau, who was in cahoots with N’Jobu. I should mention here that Klau was spared by T’Chaka and T’Challa.

After the T’Chaka died, Prince T’Challa assumes his position as heir to the throne. However, T’Challa is none the wiser about his father’s actions or the existence of his long-lost cousin. But Kilmonger is all too aware, and he wants vengeance and wants validation. So, he went to Wakanda to claim his rightful place as part of the royal family. However, Kilmonger is immediately dismissed as a thug. This prompts him to carry out his plan for a coup and takeover of Wakanda to help Blacks across the diaspora. The Wakandans do everything in their power to stop Killmonger. 

Contrarily, in Coming to America 2, King Akeem, once an oat sowing prince in Queens, unbeknownst to him, left a son born out of wedlock. He returned to Queens, New York, thirty years later to retrieve his son and give him his right to the throne. Now the reason he why he wanted his son back maybe a little sketchy, but not only did King Akeem retrieve his son but he took his family with him as well back to Zumunda. Thereby building a bridge between Africa and America.

King Akeem’s missed thirty years of his son’s life. And for all intents and purposes, he was negligent. But we find out that he never had any memory of having a sexual relationship with any women while in Queens. Thus, his son’s life was validated. And his lineage was validated as a Black American worthy of his African lineage, whether he wanted it or not. As an added prize, he connected with his sisters.

  This is where’re is we enter the dark zone and have an uncomfortable conversation that many would prefer to avoid. But to avoid this conversation would be a detriment to building bridges between the descendants of enslaved Africans and Africans from the motherland.

As in the Black Panther, many Black Americans, begrudge Africans for having access to language, culture, art, and a heritage that was taken from them through the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Black America, as it stands, has been built through a means of survival and perseverance. Despite the test and trials Black America has overcome, the desire to know their roots still exist. These desires are exhibited through DNA testing and a steady flow of fleeing of the United States of America by Black Americans for the warmer shores of Africa.

 Although some African countries like Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania have opened their doors of residency for Black people of the diaspora, other countries have not been so empathetic. This, like the abandonment of T’Chaka, leaves Black Americans feeling abandoned and dejected. And while Africans have gone through their own colonization and issues of White supremacy (as most of the world has), they have the benefit of having inherited culture and belonging.

However, in the wake of Wakanda, the wounds of disconnect between African immigrants and Black America were reopened. “Now you want to be from Africa?” or “What happened to being an African booty scratcher?” were some comments I read and heard all over social media. The movie ripped the bandage off deep seething wounds that African immigrants carry with them.

Many African immigrants felt rebuked, were teased, and taunted when they arrived in the States- many times, by Black Americans. The ignorance portrayed by the Black Americans pained the African immigrants, who were looking for safety and sanctuary.

 Africans (social media influencers) saw Wakanda as theirs; a place of their own that was superior to anything that the States could offer. They also saw this as a moment to express their discontent with Black Americans, who also saw Wakanda as theirs. Black Panther Wakanda failed to connect the diaspora on unified ground.

Wakanda was a place for Wakandans, and Black Americans were not welcomed. Wakanda did not want to use its resources to help Black folks across the diaspora, but when asked to help non-Black outsiders, they complied without a challenge. T’Chakka or T’Challa would consider using their resources to assist their extended family (Black Americans) over European nations. The idea of charity work and assisting the diaspora is negated throughout the movie. The notion of Umoja is killed along with Killmonger.

Black Panther pits ADOS against African natives. Wakanda, albeit fictional, was a place of exclusivity, and Zumunda was inclusive. The movie magnified the divide between ADOS and Africans. It illuminated the wounds without any resolution for healing.

In the end, T’Challa went to Oakland in a feeble attempt to right his father’s wrong by building a community center (but what is a community center to the death of your first cousin?) and Wakanda remained off limits to Black Americans and other Black folks of the diaspora. Wakanda killed off its only surviving American heir while Zumunda welcomed him. African descendants of slaves and African natives are united in Zumunda, while Black Panther continued to stir the narrative of broken Black America and the superiority of native Africans. Coming to America 2 represented healing and a place of unity. In Zumunda, ADOS and African natives share a culture and build on a shared identity. Zumunda showed how love, acceptance, and forgiveness, all of which are required for the healing of the Africa diaspora, can look. And Wakanda, well, it had an invisible sign that read, “Native Wakandans Only.”

You can have your Wakanda salute. I’ll take dancing in Zumunda.